Another Over Carbonated bottle thread

[trevorc13]

So I primed my 4.5 gallon alt beer using the BrewBot app. It asked for beer temp, which for some reason I assumed was the temp the beer would be sitting at for the next three weeks (70F), not the temp it was at during the time of bottling (60F). Stupid. It's been a while since I've brewed. It told me to prime with 6.25 oz, which I did to the gram. Should be 4.12 oz. Of course afterwards I realized the issue. My thought now is over carbonated bottles of awesome beer! I want to submit this for competition because it turned out so well, but I don't want to submit a beer at 3.25 volumes when it should be in the mid 2s. I've seen threads talking about bottles already over carbonated, but I want to catch this before it even gets there. My thought is to first split up my beer into thirds. I'll leave one third as a control to carb up without intervention (maybe it will be okay). I'll uncap and recap two thirds after the first week of carbonating. Then on the second week I'll do this again for half of that last recapped batch (keeping up?). After its been completely carbed I'll determine the third with the best co2 volume. Any thoughts on this process? The one question would be how long to let them remain uncapped before recapping? Input is appreciated. Thanks.

 

[flars]

Sounds like a very good plan. I would start with having the bottles uncapped for a half hour. It may be necessary to have the bottles slightly chilled to prevent foaming. You'll know if this is necessary after opening the first bottle.
It may not be necessary to remove the cap from the bottle. On another thread someone described using a bottle opener with a single claw underneath. The cap was just pried on enough to hear escaping CO2. This didn't deform the top of the cap. The original cap was reset with a bench capper.
It is possible you may need to degas more than once.

 

[trevorc13]

Thanks, I'll give it a try for 30 minutes uncapped. Doubt I'll have a problem with foaming until after its carbed but not a bad idea. Not sure how much of a big deal it would have been being at 3.25 volumes rather than the high for the style of 3.09, but after all the work of making a great beer, the last thing I'd want is to jack it up at the end with poor carbonation.

 

[trevorc13]

Any idea as to how many volumes are lost per degassing?

 

[flars]

Any idea as to how many volumes are lost per degassing?

I have no idea. I took two tries once to get down to a nice pour, but couldn't guess at a number. My two tries were based on my level of over carb, temperature of the beer, and perhaps some other variables.

 

[trevorc13]

No problem, just curious. So you were able to fix yours after it was carbed? Any levels of oxidation detected?

 

[Terek]

You could also open one hear and there until you get it to desired carb level, then stovetop pasturize. I have done this once with beer and I always do it with ciders

 

[flars]

No problem, just curious. So you were able to fix yours after it was carbed? Any levels of oxidation detected?

No oxidation occurred. The head space remains filled with CO2.